‘I just want my business back’: Community comes together to support Jacksonville day care damaged by storm

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – People in the community are helping a local day care owner fix her building and clean up the debris after a powerful storm earlier this month caused significant damage to the building.

The window, the roof, the ramp and the entrance at Dreams Come True Learning Center in Lakeshore are in need of repairs after the impact of a limb hitting, caused the building to shape, according to the owner Brendreka Leach.

“Lightning struck the tree up there. And after lightning struck, you heard of the winds were gusting. And next thing, you know, it was a loud boom, the tree hit the large branch, hit the top of the roof. Another branch went through the window,” Leach said.

Leach said this damage has negatively impacted her business.

“Very bad. Took a tremendous loss here, a real big loss… I can’t go to the local utility companies and stuff and say ‘Oh well, this happened at the storm so I can’t pay my bills.’ They’re not going to understand that, you know, I don’t have the adequate children in my center because of this situation,” Leach said.

Now, people in the community are coming out to help Leach clean the debris and do minor repairs.

“This is my heart. This is all I have. So I just want my business back,” Leach said.